QUAKE DAMAGE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 July 1942, Page 4

QUAKE DAMAGE

POSITION IN MASTERTON ENGINEER’S REPORT DISCUSSION AT THE BOROUGH COUNCIL. APPRECIATION OF GOOD WORK. At the meet ing of I lie Masferton Borough Council, last night the Mayor (Mr T. Jordan) reported at length on the effects of the earthquake, outlining the arrangements. made to meet the position which had arisen in Masterton. He observed that there might have been some criticism in the matter of not getting the council to take over control, but in the exceptional circumstances a meeting held had developed. Messrs Mackley and Hodder had been asked to undertake the organisation work in regard to the erection, etc., of chimneys, and they had done an excellent job. Mr Jordan expressed appreciation of the splendid services rendered by the builders and tradesmen in Masterton, the gas manager, the gasworks employees, the Borough Engineer, the Town Clerk, various other borough workers, the soldiers and all who had risen to the occasion and rendered assistance at the earthquake period. Councillor W. Kemp said the Borough Council should have been called together to deal with the matter of the demolition and erection of chimneys, and said that some of the urgent cases were only being attended to now. There must have been something wrong when he could not have been got hold of to attend a council meeting. He stated that he had had difficulty in getting into Queen Street after the earthquake, being stopped by soldiers. “Despite the fact that I had written authority as well as an arm badge on, one of these amateur policemen held me up, and I told him he could bayonet me, but I was going into Queen Street, and I did,” said Councillor Kemp. WARDENS’ REPORTS. Councillor G. W. Morice asked whether notice had been taken of the wardens’ reports, He knew of urgent cases which had not been dealt with, and yet they were told that Oxford Street had every chimney up. He was not speaking in a tone of criticism. The Mayor said he gave the utmost credit to the two men concerned for the work they had accomplished. Some of the wardens were not on duty on the night of the earthquake. Councillor Kemp: “When a case was reported by a warden as urgent why was it not attended to? Was it not urgency when a woman and children were without heating and means for obtaining meals?” The Mayor replied that he would not take all the wardens’ urgent requests as right. Councillor Kemp: “Well I, stand by the wardens. Their reports were satisfactory to me.” He stated that the wardens had been called in again to make a street to street report on urgent cases, etc., and this work was now acknowledged by the powers that be to have been particularly good. Many people in Masterton today were asking for the wardens and looking to them to have something done in the way of providing cooking and heating facilities.

WORK DONE WELL.

Councillor G. D. Wilson said the work had been carried out well by those who had been delegated to attend to it. That was the best reason I'or not calling the council together. He warmly congratulated the Mayor on having kept his head and on the excellent work he had carried out in the interests of all concerned. The people of Masterton should be grateful to him and to the borough staff and all concerned. The Mayor: “The work had been done well by the two men into whose hands the job had been placed.” Councillor W. White also referred to the splendid service which the Mayor had given during the earthquake period, and said he was sure the public would fully appreciate the fact that the Mayor had risen to the occasion under very trying and difficult circumstances. (Hear! Hear).

ENGINEER’S REPORT

Mr C. R. Mabson, Borough Engineer, reported inter alia, as follows in regard to the earthquake:— “We were exceptionally lucky in so lai as the essential services are concerned, no fractures having occurred anywhere in the town in the gas and water mams; also(that there were no fires. Since the earthquake we have had the services of Messrs A. G. Hairis and D. J. Burns—Public Works Depaitment Engineer and Architect respectively to inspect and make an independent lepoit on all the brick and reinforced conciete buildings in the Borough; and these reports reveal the following facts:—(a) 24 buck buildings were seriously damaged and require partial or complete demolition; lb) 43 brick buildings were cracked only or parapets and gable ends collapsed and are capable of reconstruction to earthquake standards’ (c) 18 brick buildings escaped except for minor damage; (d) 9 reinforced concrete buildings received slight cracks—no damage to stability; (e) 30 reinforced concrete buildings received no damage at all. Items Id) and (e) go to show that if a modern reinforced concrete building is properly designed and well built it is capable of withstanding earthquakes of the intensity experienced here without structural damage. To rebuild the damaged brickwork, as was done in many instances after the last earthquake of 1934 without encasing the whole building in a system of reinforced concrete piers and beams —has proved to be uneconomical and dangerous; and such practice should be absolutely prohibited: in future, to leave tne existing buildings of classes (b) and (c) without carrying out the necessary structural alterations to make them as near earthquake proof as possible, is to simply court disaster. It might well be argued that to do this will involve considerable expense to owners of business premises; and so it will. To give effect to the recommendations above stated would require a large number of men and a considerable quantity of material; however, as both are unobtainable until after the war, all reconstruction work must necessarily be of a temporary nature only. To. do this, special powers must first be obtained fiom the Government to issue temporary permits for the duration of the war and a specified time after—this permit to be revoked at the expiry date and a notice issued requiring the carrying out of the major reconstruction work. An amendment to the Standards Institute’s Building By-law (Sec. 1-10) recently adopted by the Council, requires amending; and. Sec. 307, Clauses (a) and (b) require to be deleted in order to give effect to the recommendations. Further, I would recommend that all existing brick parapets be removed at the earliest possible moment, and that all gable ends be eliminated by hipping back the roofs.” The Borough Inspector reported that the earthquake had caused very little damage to private drains and sanitary fittings.